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Florida residents have filed a federal class action lawsuit against Mosaic after a sinkhole in its plant released more than 200 millions of gallons of contaminated water into one of the state’s main underground sources of drinking water.
Mosaic, the world’s largest supplier of phosphate, said a sinkhole opened up beneath a pile of waste material called a “gypsum stack.”
The 215-million gallon storage pond sat atop the waste mineral pile. The company said the sinkhole is about 45 feet in diameter.
The sinkhole, discovered by a worker on Aug. 27, is believed to reach down to the Floridan aquifer.
Aquifers are vast, underground systems of porous rocks that hold water and allow water to move through the holes within the rock.
The Floridan aquifer extends into southern Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina, supplying water to nearly 10 million people and is also a major source for Zephyrhills bottled water.
The aquifer supplies water to thousands of domestic, industrial and irrigation wells throughout the state.
News of the sinkhole wasn’t released to the public until Sept. 11.
Some nearby residents are upset that it took so long for the company and local officials to inform the public.
The proposed class action lawsuit was filed last Thursday on behalf of Nicholas Bohn, Natasha McCormick and Eric Weckman – local residents who rely on private wells as their source of water.
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs “are at risk of drinking or using contaminated water” because of Mosaic’s “conscious actions and omissions disregarded foreseeable risks to human health and safety and to the environment.”
Approximately 5,000 individuals who live in within five miles of the sinkhole who obtain their water from private wells may be impacted by the sinkhole and it is estimated there are over 1,500 private wells in the impacted area.
“[Mosaic], as the owners and operators of the New Wales Facility, engaged in abnormally dangerous activities by the manner in which they maintained and operated the phosphogypsum wastewater stacks at its New Wales Facility,” the complaint states.
The lawsuit further contends that “the collapse of the stack and resulting discharge of radioactive and other chemical-containing wastewater within the South Gypsum Stack is the result of a defendants’ overuse and dependence on the gypstack for long-term storage of billions of tons of radioactive waste byproduct produced from the manufacture of phosphoric acid.”
Mosaic insists that the contamination poses no risk to the public health, and that pumps and other equipment were being used to remove the chemicals before they reached private water supplies.
Just last year, Mosaic settled a massive environmental lawsuit with the EPA in which the company agreed to nearly $2 billion in improvements and clean-ups at its plants.
The proposed class action lawsuit seeks to recover damages, including for the residents’ possible losses of private wells as well as for water testing and monitoring for signs of radioactivity and other chemicals until there is no longer risk of contamination.
The plaintiffs are represented by John A. Yanchunis, Frank M. Petosa, Scott W. Weinstein, Rene F. Rocha III and Marcio W. Valladares of Morgan & Morgan Complex Litigation Group, and Robin L. Greenwald and Pearl A. Robertson of Weitz & Luxenberg, P.C.
The Mosaic Water Contamination Class Action Lawsuit is Bohn, et al. v. The Mosaic Company, et al., Case No. 8:16-cv-02724, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
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